Listen to this article
Estimated 5 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
When Brittany Stockley was incarcerated, she told guards she was pregnant so she could get extra food and sweets to help ease withdrawal symptoms from her drug addiction.
She didn’t think she was actually pregnant.
But when she was taken from prison to a hospital for prenatal care, an ultrasound revealed she was pregnant with twins.
“When you’re sitting in jail, it’s like, something happened here … We can either make a change or we can stay here. And I [have] seen a little light at the end of the tunnel,” said Stockley.
Stockley’s twins were born three months after her release. Her sister cared for them for the first four months until Stockley was able to take them home and care for them herself.
With support from family and advocate Jeannie Piercey, Stockley stopped using substances and eventually got custody of her three children.
Now, Stockley is on the advisory board for the non-profit Roots of Resilience and is helping build the kind of support she once needed.
Shelly’s Haven, run by Roots of Resilience, will house up to six mothers over the age of 29 and their children, allowing them to live together while having access to 24/7 support that includes mental health and addictions care, parenting support and help navigating systems.
The home is expected to open in Conception Bay South, N.L. in summer 2026.
“This will be new to our province to have a sober recovery home for women and children, but we really want to focus on a family-centred approach,” said Piercey, Roots of Resilience co-founder.
In the above images, Brittany Stockley was using substances. Now, she is on the advisory board to Roots of Resilience and is helping the non-profit launch a new recovery home for mothers and their children. (Brittany Stockley)
For Stockley, this work is still personal.
“I’ve got friends still out there. I miss them. I’ve got friends that I’ve lost. I’ve got friends that have lost families. It’s everywhere,” she said.
When her friend Courtney Pearce became pregnant with her second child, she was still using substances.
“I tried as soon as I found out that the pregnancy test was positive. I tried to stop using,” said Pearce.
Stockley connected Pearce with Roots of Resilience. She said it changed the trajectory of her life.
“I didn’t have very many people left that believed in me. So to have a friend believe in me and say like, ‘You can do this,’” said Pearce.
“It just gave me that extra push to want to find myself again, I think. And it just made me open up and realize that, you know, I’m not too far gone.”
Brittany Stockley and Courtney Pearce are sharing their stories of addiction and recovery in the hope they can help other moms find the support they need. (Caroline Hillier/CBC)
The day Pearce delivered, she was told her baby would need to go to a foster home in a community six hours away. With Piercey’s advocacy, the baby was kept closer.
“I had a Jeannie there advocating for, you know, shipping my breast milk and making sure that I had six days of access visits right away,” said Pearce.
“Things like that don’t happen without advocacy.”
LISTEN | Krissy Holmes interviews Jeannie Piercey, Brittany Stockley and Courtney Pearce:
On The Go17:02Roots of Resilience
The number of babies born exposed to substances in Newfoundland and Labrador is on the rise. We speak with two moms who used substances while pregnant about the stigma, the system that struggled to support them… and the solutions they’re working on to help other families. (Krissy Holmes with Jeannie Piercey, co-founder and director of programs with Roots of Resilience, and with mothers Courtney Pearce and Brittany Stockley)
Dr. Anne Drover, a pediatrician and associate professor at the faculty of medicine at Memorial University, says 50-60 babies are born exposed to substances per year in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Jeannie Piercey, the co-founder of Roots of Resilience, says Shelly’s Haven recovery home aims to open in this summer. (Submitted by Jeannie Piercey)
Her research suggests stigma is one of the biggest barriers to getting help.
“It’s very difficult to go to a health-care provider when you feel like you’re going to be shamed,” said Drover.
Piercey said Shelly’s Haven will help address some of those barriers by offering trauma-informed care in a place where mothers can stay with their babies, while learning to eventually live with and care for their children on their own.
Breaking cycles
Pearce recently regained custody of her son and said without the support from Roots of Resilience, she wouldn’t be the mother she is today.
“To be where I am today and to know that my son is home and healthy and happy and safe and I’m able to offer that for him, like, if you looked at me a year ago and asked could I provide a safe, nourishing environment for a child, the answer was a definite no, right?,” said Pearce.
“So to have to come from having one person believe in me to being able to believe in myself is a very big step.”
After getting support to stop using substances, Courtney Pearce regained custody of her infant son. (Submitted by Courtney Pearce)
Shelly’s Haven aims to give more mothers that same chance.
Pearce and Stockley are sharing their stories in hopes of reducing stigma and helping other mothers who need help.
“I get the privilege to, you know, be a mom to my son and my daughter and so that’s the reason why it’s so important for me to do things like this,” said Pearce.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
